Family profiles -- my brother

My brother Matt is 2 years, 9 months and 2 days younger than me. He is my only sibling.

We don't get to talk much or see each other much these days, but I feel that our bond is still strong. People call each other "brother" in church, on sports teams, and even in online communities. Those are reflections of the types of bonds that exist between true blood brothers. I'm glad to have one.

When we were growing up, he couldn't ever sneak up on me no matter how many times he tried. I always felt when he was close. It may seem hokey or like something from The Twilight Zone, but it was there.

As the younger brother, he inevitably, and unfairly, got compared to me. I figured why break the tendency? Here's some insight into my brother, as compared to myself:

He's stronger than me, physically

Just because I'm the older brother doesn't mean I'm the bigger one. He could pretty much beat me up during several of our childhood years -- it took puberty (mine) to give me an edge in hand-to-hand combat.

This brought an interesting dynamic into our relationship, because physically we didn't seem to be three years apart. I was always skinny (ok... frail), and he was thick and strong like our dad.

Now that the growth plates are all settled, I've topped out a couple of inches taller than him. But he's still got me in the weight department, and could probably destroy me in a wrestling match.

At least he can't sneak up on me.

He's more sensitive than me, spiritually

When I was 12 and he was almost 10, we came home after church and Matt had a talk with dad. Matt said that "it felt like the preacher was talking directly to him" during the sermon, and he wanted to be baptized.

I think that's really cool, and I admit I'm jealous. I don't think I've ever had that feeling about a sermon in more than 30 years of church attendance. But my brother did. At age 10.

To this day, his heart is very sincere and pure in places where mine is cerebral and cynical. I know he teaches some classes at church and am sure he connects with the people there in a great way.

He's more comfortable than me, socially

He had lots more friends than me in high school. It was pretty cool because they would all come over to house and hang out. I know that's pretty much what high school kids do, but we didn't experience that with my friends because I didn't really have any who were close enough to come over.

Thankfully he shared his friends with me.


So that's a peek at my brother -- I hope that this time he doesn't mind the comparison. :)